Jackets fail to finish again

The second-year struggles of Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason continued last night, laid bare in a shootout for all 17,772 in Nationwide Arena to witness.

The second-year struggles of Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason continued last night, laid bare in a shootout for all 17,772 in Nationwide Arena to witness.

As a result, the Blue Jackets' losing streak has hit five games after a 4-3 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames.

Adding insult to the season-high skid was this: The Blue Jackets blew a 3-1 lead in the final 5:47 of regulation, allowing two goals in 79 seconds to force overtime.

"We sit back too much and try to hold the lead," Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. "(We create) no offense. We are a young team and we need to learn how to keep the lead."

Nash, Marc Methot and Jared Boll scored goals for the Blue Jackets, and Kristian Huselius had two assists.

The Blue Jackets earn a point for the shootout loss. But it was not a good night at the rink, continuing a trend. The Jackets have led in all five games of their losing streak.

"We need to find a way to stop this," right winger R.J. Umberger said.

Mason was good in regulation and overtime, stopping 29 of 32 shots. But he gave up three goals on four attempts in the shootout, thanks mostly to a cavernous hole between his legs when he had to move side to side.

The Blue Jackets got goals in the first two rounds of the shootout from Nash and Huselius, but defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Anton Stralman, both curious choices, came up empty in the final two rounds.

Calgary's Jamie Lundmark scored the winner in the fourth round, shooting over Mason's left shoulder.

"It's a tough way to lose," Mason said. "We gave up two quick goals (in the third period) in a game that we should have had under control. It's a bad way to lose a hockey game.

"Our shooters did their job. They put pucks in the net. The first two shootout shots I should have had. I guess that's the difference."

The Blue Jackets, returning home from a five-game trip, appeared to have heavy legs the first 30 minutes of the game.

They awakened after the Flames took a 1-0 lead early in the second period, the flip switched by a momentous shift by center Antoine Vermette and yeoman's effort by fourth-line grinders Derek MacKenzie, Mike Blunden and Boll.

The Blue Jackets scored three goals in the final 6:40 of the second to take the lead.

Nash scored his 15th of the season off a cross-zone feed from Huselius at 13:20 to make it 1-1, and Methot ended a 52-game goal drought with a shot from the left circle 63 seconds later to make it 2-1.

Boll was headed toward the bench on his way out of the penalty box late in the period, but had a change of heart when he saw Calgary kicking the puck around in their zone.

Brassard fed him atop the right circle, and Boll put a slap shot inside the far post to make it 3-1 with 27.2 seconds remaining.

aportzline@dispatch.com

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